A ten-year Formula 1 career that seemed to be over in 2019 is now in a second bonus phase and a “fairytale” change is imminent. Not bad, considering that Nico Hülkenberg was only able to return to the starting grid as a last resort.

After Renault sacked Hülkenberg at the end of 2019, he clung to Formula 1 with all his might. He had two unexpected stand-in opportunities at Racing Point in the COVID-affected 2020 season and then became the team’s official reserve driver when it was converted to Aston Martin. But he didn’t drive again until the first two races of 2022. And even then, despite his best efforts, it looked like the curtain would fall sooner rather than later.

Now, in the middle of 2024, Hülkenberg is once again one of the top drivers in F1 – and is preparing for the biggest step of his career: he will take over the management of the huge new Audi program.

He will return to Sauber – the team that Audi bought and for which he drove in 2013 – in 2025, before the team undergoes a complete revamp in 2026. He was poached in part because of his nationality, but mainly because of his renewed status as one of the most reliable F1 drivers available.

And all this because he landed on Haas’ radar in mid-2022. That’s a team that Hülkenberg would have previously considered himself too good to drive for.

“It worked for me, for Haas, for everyone,” Hülkenberg told The Race.

“It’s a good story. And with Audi’s current move, it’s a bit like a motorsport fairytale. Because you couldn’t have expected this three years before this point in time.

“It’s pretty cool. And I’m proud and happy about it.”

The main reason for judging Hülkenberg is usually his statistic of “never being on the podium” (if you count, he now stands at 217 Grand Prix starts without a single place), but the story of his career will most likely be that he was never in the right place at the right time and never made the big step when he deserved it.

Returning to Formula 1 with Haas, the smallest of all teams, just to get back into the midfield where Hülkenberg had spent his entire career, felt like a step backwards, even beyond what he had done at the start of his first regular career. He himself admits that it was the last attempt.

“When I tried to come back and get the place and the chance,” says Hülkenberg, “of course I didn’t have many alternatives!”

“That was, so to speak, the straw that broke the camel’s back.

“At the time, the 2022 Haas season was starting quite well. But then it stalled a bit. So I knew I wasn’t just signing up for sunny days. And there will be some bad days and headwinds too.

“I just wanted to come back because I missed competing. I missed working with the team. I missed riding. I just wanted to come back and be the best version of myself.”

Some people close the door to Formula 1 and move on to other things when they get fired. Hülkenberg never did that. He was ready to walk through the door, whichever one opened.

Getting back into the fight and the sacrifices, enduring the disappointment and frustration of not only being back in the midfield but in a weaker team, is a huge challenge for a driver. And the 2023 season was clearly a test of Hülkenberg’s renewed commitment because, despite Haas’s underwhelming track record, he never imagined that the “Sunday mood that felt like a broken record” would be the season he signed up for.

But he was back on the grid. And he still believes that, despite all of Haas’s struggles, he was capable of putting himself in the showcase in 2023. He felt he had something to offer and showed it with excellent performances in qualifying. And now that Haas is a more competitive contender on Sunday, Hülkenberg is back on top form – but he insists he was always carried by the bigger picture.

“That’s where my three-year break comes into play again – the appreciation of what it gives us, how much joy it still brings me, even though it went wrong and went in the wrong direction,” he says.

“I still know the other side and I know that the alternative of sitting at home on the couch and watching is even shittier!

“It still puts things in perspective. And I still tried to make the best of it. So even though it was challenging and it was hard to endure those Sundays, I still prefer that.”

Already at the beginning of the much more competitive 2024 season for Haas, it became clear that Hülkenberg was a very likely candidate for Audi’s future F1 entry.

Therefore, the announcement of his contract in April was no surprise in view of his comeback in 2023, his performance in early 2024 and the options for Audi.

But if you look back a few years at the state of Hülkenberg’s career and the enormous improbability that he would ever start again – what came together must have been a huge surprise?

“Yes,” confirms Hülkenberg. “Yes, that’s true! Even when I signed the original contract with Haas, my thoughts weren’t quite that far along.”

“I didn’t expect this… I’m taking it a lot harder week by week to see how it goes. I just want to enjoy the moment and live and see what happens after that.

“I didn’t have a big master plan for my return, but it just worked. I’m happy and have a very positive and good attitude, which has allowed me to do well and that performance has earned me this great opportunity.”

Haas and Hülkenberg’s speculation about each other ultimately paid off for both. When Haas signed him, replacing the underperforming Mick Schumacher for an experienced driver who had spent three years on the bench, they must have known that they were only getting a driver for the short or medium term – either because of Hülkenberg’s age or because of the possibility that he would quickly prove to be too good for the team.

Getting two seasons out of him, especially one as good as 2024 where he will be instrumental in helping Haas finish sixth or seventh in the championship, means this is definitely a win for Haas. And Hulkenberg’s form was key in making the team attractive for its 2025 driver line-up of Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman as well.

And Hülkenberg, at 36, could never have imagined that he would be preparing for another team change, which – who knows – could well The career move. One has to imagine that this will be his biggest payday ever. And despite all the doubts about the Sauber side of the equation, it is Audi.

Hülkenberg is right, it worked out for everyone. And that’s a fairytale for a driver who didn’t need much to be catapulted into another life where he will be in the sixth year of his Formula 1 retirement in 2025. He is not preparing to lead Audi’s Formula 1 attack.

Disappearing from the scene at the end of 2019 was perhaps the best thing that could have happened to Hülkenberg’s F1 career. Who knows what would have happened if he had held on for another year or two. No time off, no new perspective and motivation, no new opportunities? If so, then no career revival and no offer from Audi.

“Absolutely, absolutely,” says Hülkenberg.

“And it’s good, I’m super happy with how it went and that I had this time off.

“I’ve learned to live outside of F1 too. Actually, I was only really away in 2020 because in 2021 I was already a reserve driver for Aston Martin. So it was a year and I had the COVID races in 2020, but it was enough time to really switch off and just do what I really wanted to do: take off the F1 hat and recover.

“I’ve always followed the sport closely on race weekends. But it reignited my fire and put things in perspective. It was good for me to see things from the other side.”

It’s a situation that many drivers don’t come back from. So if this project flops, it might be another case of Hülkenberg not being in the right place at the right time. Maybe.

But there’s a good chance he shouldn’t be here at all. And given what Hulkenberg wants, it’s better to be in F1 and not quite make it work – with Audi of all teams – than not to be here at all.

Before that, however, there is a chapter to close with Haas, a team that Hülkenberg says he got on well with and still enjoys working for. Their combined efforts as underdogs now leave Haas battling for an unlikely sixth place in the championship – a result that Hülkenberg says would be “very big”.

“Especially after we came last last year, that would be an incredible turnaround and a comeback,” he says.

“And I’ll keep pushing until the last corner and try to get every point I can. I owe that to the team.”